Black Bean and Barbecue Shredded Pork Tacos
I love one pot dinners because there are hardly any dishes to do. I loathe dish duty. Recently, on a work-from-home day I got a pork roast going in the crockpot and it turned into meat tacos that evening. These were easy to whip up at dinner time and made the house smell amazing all day as the pork simmered away.
I like to make my own barbecue sauce, I’ve included my recipe below, but to be honest it changes every time I make it because I am always throwing something else in.
One more thing, flour tortillas are great, but the texture of corn tortilla in this recipe is really great. If you like this post, then check out my other recipes here.
Serving:
- 8 tacos
Preparation:
- 4-6 hours of slow cooker time, 15 minutes to assemble
Tools:
- Slow cooker/ crockpot
Ingredients:
Pork:
- 4 lb pork roast de-thawed (shoulder roast works well)
Sauce:
- 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tbsp of black pepper
- 1/4 tsp of paprika
- 2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Toppings:
- 8-10 corn tortillas
- 1 can of black beans
- 1 handful of chopped cilantro
- 1 cup of guacamole
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cup fresh (pico) salsa
- 2 cups chopped lettuce
Directions:
- Put the pork roast in the crockpot on low/medium.
- Combine sauce ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and whisk.
- Add sauce ingredients to crock pot.
- Pork is done when it can easily be pulled apart or shredded with two forks. This may depend on your crock pot, but the longer you leave it in the better, about 4-6 hours, but 8 hours if you can wait that long.
- After 4-6 hours, shred/ pull apart the pork in the crock pot and remove any bones.
- Steam the corn tortillas or heat them up in the microwave for 10 seconds.
- Assemble with toppings and enjoy.
Simple and Stylish Kitchen Organization
Whenever you see a kitchen in a magazine the counters and window sills are free of clutter. Appliances are put away and there are no cleaning utilities in site.
Let's be real, no one lives like that. I need the soap where I can use it. Sure I could put it under the cabinet, but then every time I need it, I have to open the cabinet with dirty hands.
Decisions, Decisions: Shower Tile
The basement bathroom floor is tiled, and it was a bit of a hit, thanks to all the Pinterest traffic and repins. Keep it coming!
If you missed it check it out here.
It’s time for the final push – tiling the shower. This is really an exciting step because it will add a full bath to our house. Doubling the number of bathrooms will be more convenient and hopefully a great selling point when we are ready to move on.
Remember, we started out with an unfinished basement, and we are so close to actually finishing a project! Most of the projects we start get to 80% finished before I get bored and more on to the next new exciting task. So it’s taking all my self-control to work on the basement before tearing into kitchen.
Let the planning begin.
I popped into the Tile Shop a while ago and was mostly distracted by gorgeous tile for other projects. Go figure. I did find some inspiration for the bathroom though.
I am loving this for the laundry room floor. The floor slopes to the drain, so we need to use a small tile that will work with the slope:
Then I saw some tile that would be perfect for the main bath remodel. Although, this project isn’t in the works at all…..yet.
Marble hex or basket weave is perfect for the main upstairs bath. The basement bath needs something a little more contemporary and mainstream, while staying traditional. I like white subway tile quite a bit. These displays are getting pretty close to what I have in mind:
I would like to bring in the Tiffany blue wall color and the wood floor though. Maybe white subway with blue glass accents? I like the use of color in the display below. Maybe something similar.
What do you think? Thoughts?
Is It Tile? Is It Wood?
Hey Everyone! Thank you for stopping by.
If you are looking for the link to where you can purchase the tile, scroll through the post. The picture of a single tile is a link and I also have one in text.
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Thanks!
Yeah, so I am one of those DIYers who is inspired to start new projects in the anticipation of an event. So, naturally, when our annual Christmas party was 4 days away, I promptly decided it was time to demo the basement bathroom and install new tile.
Did we get it done in time? Of course not!
Was the toilet functioning? No, why would we want to have two functioning toilets the day of a party?
Haha, I give myself an A for effort though 
The floor is finished now, so let me take you through the project.
Do you remember the basement bathroom expansion? The basement was cinder block walls and a concrete floor before we finished it (before and after photos are here). The only thing in the basement (other than the boiler, water heater, and a laundry sink) was a finished 1/2 bath. Our house is tiny, so I understand why the previous home owners felt the need to add a bathroom.
We decided to make the 1/2 bath into a full bath, and bumped out the wall to add a tub. This resulted in an awkward space where the old tile ended and the rest of the concrete floor began. I wanted a clean, even look for the party – got what I wanted, just 2 days later.
The whole room was sort of blah blah white blah.
The tile floor came up with a hammer and chisel.
Did I mention I started this project while my hubby was at work, and without his knowledge? Best way to start a large project in my house – demolish everything before he gets home, so we have no choice but to fix it by the time he shows up
I originally thought we would do a more traditional tile. I was checking out white marble basket weave (love), but the basement is a little bit contemporary. I matched the doors to the rest of the house and love how they turned out, but the basement is carpeted and has white trim, so I went with a new fresh tile choice: Wood-look tile.
I could not be happier with the results! We picked the tile up a big box store here.
The marble threshold was easy to do. We glued down a tack strip to the concrete floor, and followed the great step-by-step I found here.
The bathroom isn’t done yet. We plan to:
- Tile the shower
- Replace the sink
- Install a medicine cabinet/new mirror
- Change the sink light fixture.
I’m excited to finish the project up, and have another full bath for guests to use. Let’s hope I can keep the momentum going.
Our house has hot water heat…..so, why is there duct work in the walls?
Calling all historic renovation buffs and geeks. I have a conudrum.
Let me set the scene:
- Home built in 1932.
- The house still has the historical coal shoot, from a previous (unknown) form of heating.
- Our house is currently heated by hot water. We have Weil McClain cast iron radiators in every room.
- There is an ancient Weil McLain boiler in the basement….not as scary as the one from Home Alone – thank goodness.
Clues that there is something more to the story:
- There are old plug outlets behind some of the radiators – strange right? 1st clue that the radiators were not the original form of heating.
- Some of the rooms have 12″x12″ air vents in the wall, along the baseboard, covered with a wooden lattice screen.
- Nothing comes out of these vents – because the house is heated by radiators…..when were these installed?
- Today I smashed a hole in a wall I want to remove (sorry Hubby!) to find that the wall is DRYWALL…what?? Our house is plaster and lathe.
- I could see duct work running up from the basement to the 2nd floor….????
What is going on? Our house was heated by air, and then switched to hot water? When did this happen? The drywall around the duct work is confusing, because I would think that the drywall would be a remodel on the original plaster walls. If the duct work was original, then it would be behind plaster. Was there another unknown form of heating, then convection air, and now steam?
Ideas? Anyone?
I found this on the web….explains the duct work, but the order of events seems all wrong in my house:
By the end of the 19th century the invention of low cost cast iron radiators would bring central heating to America’s homes with a coal fired boiler in the basement delivering hot water or steam to radiators in every room. At about the same time, in 1885, Dave Lennox built and marketing the industry’s first riveted-steel coal furnace. Without electricity and fans to move air, these early furnaces transported heat by natural convection (warm heated air rising) through ducts from the basement furnace to the rooms above. These two methods would dominate home central heating until 1935, when the introduction of the first forced air furnace using coal as a heat source used the power of an electric fan to distribute the heated air through ductwork within the home.
DIY Christmas Tree Skirt
Make a custom tree skirt to match your decor. Depending on the fabric and trim you use, it can be done for $30-$60 plus bragging rights. 
If you can sew a straight stitch on a sewing machine and know how to switch from a flat sole foot to a zipper foot – then you can do this. Don’t let the jargon hamper your attempt:
Flat Foot
Zipper Foot
SNAP ON, SNAP OFF or TWIST ON, TWIST OFF (depending on the type of machine you have) It’s that easy.
DOWN TO BUSINESS
I need to catch you up to where I started on the project. I made a half-ass tree skirt a few years ago out of a curtain I had made for an old apartment. So I started this project half way through.
- You start with a large square of material 5′ x 5′ would be good. Most fabrics don’t come in this width, so you may need to join two pieces. Easy-peasy: just straight stitch to seams together, and press the seam.
- Fold the fabric in half and cut into a semi-circle. See below (fold on dotted line).
- To give your skirt some weight I suggest lining it in felt. Lining is easy too, think of a pillow case. Lay the two pieces of fabric on top of each other, matching up the sides and sew along the edge. Don’t worry about the raw edges, they will be covered by the trim.
- Now you need to cut the slit for the tree trunk. I suggest the slit go past the center of the skirt. I tried it right in the middle, and when placed around the tree, the skirt was too short in the back. Also, make more of a notch than a slit because the tree trunk is probably 3-6 inches thick, and a notch will slip around it more easily. Sew down the edges of the slit/notch. You can cover the raw edge in gimp, or you can roll the raw edge under when you sew it down.
- If the middle is the dotted line, cut the slit like this:
- So now you have something like this (before I lengthened the notch) Notice the seam along the middle where I joined the fabric pieces. Also, it was a curtain so there is random gold banding along the bottom:
- By the way, what can I say? I like red and gold. It may not be your cup of tea. You could do this same project with a fun chevron print - it doesn’t have to be traditional. It would probably look amazing in a contemporary print.
- All that is left to do is add the trim or gimp. I picked three different kinds. You will need about 5 -6 yards of each trim:
- gold tassel
- red woven gimp
- red cording
- The more layers of gimp and trim you add the more finished the look.
- Use the flat sole foot for the tassels and woven gimp, adding one at a time. Use a straight stitch.
- If you are going to use cording, you will need to switch to a zipper foot to get close up to the edge of the cording.
- Now you should have something like this:
- Personalize it more from here. I was thinking of adding a monogram on the gold section in the front.
Obligatory Christmas Tree Post Sing Along
Just in case you are like me and can not get enough of all the holiday music and Christmas decor floating around the blogosphere – this is my first contribution (I confess there will be more, lots more!).
Over the river and through the……country (darn it so close to the song) to the Christmas tree farm we went:
Note: This is not from this weekend, it’s from last year when it was cold as b*lls outside.
The car knew the way to carry us there through the balmy 60 degree December weather (wait, aren’t we in Michigan?).
We were very overdressed but felt seasonally appropriate:
There were lots of wildly shaped trees that we didn’t choose. This is a good example:
Of course we did find a perfect one – skinny enough for our little house, but still sort of full.
Nothing like the tree of 2007. Have I told you about the tree of 2007? How I misjudged the height of our ceilings which led to operating a chainsaw indoors, lots of swearing, and jerry-rigging a support structure for the tree on the wall. I’m feeling a future post coming on.
A bit of loading:
…into the house:
…and decorated:
Followed up with some signing: “Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum” (by me only, Hubs was watching some bigfoot show).
Click below to sing along. I love this time of year!
